Iceberg Rule's Mayhem
by bluecupcakes
Summary: What should ordinarily be a fluffy moment is botched by Irie's careful coldness, and he finds out that the rule that should hold true to the end of time is about to break and possibly crush him, Kotoko and everybody else involved, Story is much better.
1. Chapter 1

Irie saw the bottle clutched in Kotoko's hands and groaned inwardly.

_Reiko Reima's Hot Pink shade 1145. _

She proceeded to sit at the low table in the center of the living room and unscrew the cap, which was attached to a brush loaded with the saturated, bright substance known as nail paint or nail polish. (He was supposed to be reading the newspaper, but he feared for the table. What?! That girl attracted trouble like honey attracts bees. He _cared _about his furniture!)

She started painting the thumbnail of her left hand. Everything went (sort-of) well until

_slip! _

"Oops!"

And there was a streak of bright pink on his father's prized mahogany table.

"Sheesh," the gray-brown haired teen grumbled. "I'm going to get the nail polish remover. Baka."

"A-ah. Sorry..." Kotoko replied and was not graced with a line from Irie.

* * *

Two or three minutes later, he was back with the nail polish remover and wiped the paint off of the table with careful strokes. Under Irie's hand, the pink came away from the wood like magic.

Wordlessly, he took that pink stained nail polish remover napkin and wiped the excess paint from her thumb. Then he quickly and purposefully painted her other nails, in quick bold strokes that never strayed outside the nail itself, immaculate and perfect.

Kotoko's blush was evident on her face as she stammered a "thank you."

"Don't think I care about you. I only care about the table, and I wanted to make sure there were no more slip-ups." He 'carelessly' walked away, not taking note of her hurt and disappointed face.

Why was he so cold? When he was painting her nails, he felt the soft skin of her hand and restrained himself completely from holding it. And he was painting her nails because he cared, even though it seemed silly, about her happiness. He was Irie, and his Iceberg Irie Rule Number One (as mama, papa, Kotoko's father, Yuuki, Jinko, Satomi and Kin-chan, mostly everyone, really, knew it) was "don't you dare show any affection to the one you hold dearest to your heart." And that happened to be the bubbly, klutzy, adorable (did _he _think that?) redhead.

_Besides, she would ALWAYS come back to him. _

* * *

"Wooooooooow, Kotoko-chan, you look soo pretty! Are you going on a date with Oni-I mean, Onii-chan?" (**AN: Oni means demon in Japanese, and Onii means brother.**) Mama was overly happy. Kotoko looked like a little doll-she had on mascara, lipstick, blush and her animated red hair was now in glossy ringlets down to her shoulders.

"No..."

Thick black smoke emanated out of Mama's body. The redhead tried to ignore it as she focused on her next question. "Oh..so are you going out with friends?"

_Sheesh, so there's no chance of a date if it isn't with Irie? _Kotoko thought, annoyed.

"Well...actually...I have a date. Watanabe-kun," she elaborated, referring to the blond, glasses-wearing boy from class A who commonly accompanied Irie, for example, the time he rejected her, etc.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT? WHAAAAAAAAAAT? ONII-CHAN, HOW COULD YOU HAVE LET THIS HAPPEN?" Mama screeched and Kotoko used the opportunity to let herself out quietly.

Irie was studying in his room when he heard the commotion. Deciding it was time for a break anyway, he stood up and left his room to lounge on the stairwell.

"What is it?" _Kotoko isn't here, _he registered in his heart but his mind was focused on his mother.

"Kotoko-chan has gone on a date with that Poopanabe guy." She hmmph'd with her nose up in the air and stalked into the kitchen.

His passive gray-eyes gave away nothing but his mind was reeling. Going into his room, locking his door and called Watanabe on his cell.

_Ring ring ring ring ring ring- _"Hello?"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"Oh, hello Naoki-kun." Watanabe's voice was calm.

"YOU...YOU...HOW COULD YOU TAKE HER FOR A DATE? WE'RE GOOD FRIENDS! THE GUY CODE, EVERYTHING, YOU JUST DISREGARDED IT!"

"So?" was the reply. "_You _rejected her. The guy code only applies to _actual _crushes or exes. _You _make her feel nothing but pain every day. Wanna hear?"

A grainy recording played. It was obviously Kotoko talking to the boy a little earlier.

_Irie? She repeated back, obviously asked a question. One word to describe him, a masculine voice said. Kotoko thought for a while and he could almost hear her sad smile from the silent recording. "...cruel." _

The gray-eyed young man was silent after that.

"That's what I thought." Watanabe replied. "Goodbye."

_Beep._


	2. Chapter 2

The blond propped his head up onto his long, delicate fingers. "Are you OK?" He asked his date, who was currently a lot more quieter than normal.

"I'm fine..." Kotoko replied after a little hesitation. She looked at the menu and scrunched up her nose. "Watanabe-kun, I can't read the menu!" They were at a fancy Italian restaurant called Bella's. The menu was in English, and we all know that Kotoko is not very good at reading that particular language.

"Try sounding it out," he suggested.

"Pi-pi-pidda? Is that how you say it? Pidda?"

"No," he replied gently, and put her finger on the word. "Pi-ZZ-a. Pizza."

She tried out the word. "Pissa?"

"Rather, you should say it PiZZa," he smiled at her, stressing the Z's.

"Oh...pizza, pizza, PIZZA!" Kotoko shouted with joy after saying it correctly, earning a few looks from the people in the restaurant. She grinned, her smile beaming and lighting up her face.

"Wait...why are you grinning?" The blond asked, wondering, _is there something in my teeth? Is my hair messed up? _

"Because you're so nice about my mistakes," she explained.

_But it's standard politeness and besides, why would I be mean about it? It's natural for Japanese people to not be able to read or pronounce English, because it isn't their first language. _

The questioning look on Watanabe's face caused the redhead to elaborate with, "Well...Irie always calls me stupid if I make a mistake, or he doesn't talk to me at all..." a downcast look shadowed her expression that now, when the pale-haired teen looked, was actually almost always present.

Akio (Watanabe's first name) thought for a while. "Well, don't surround yourself with people who make you feel negative and bad about yourself. You deserve so much better than that."

Realization dawned on Aihara's face as she looked, really looked, at Watanabe for the first time.

"OK! Let's order PIIIIIZZZA!" She shouted jubilantly, earning a laugh from Akio and some of the other patrons.

A waiter walked up to them with a steaming pizza on his tray. He eased it onto the table.

The blond was confused. "We never ordered..."

"Sir," the waiter replied, biting back a laugh, "I think the whole RESTAURANT knows what you two, especially this young lady, wants." He tapped the shoulder of an older man walking back to his table.

"What did this young lady want?"

"Pizza," the man replied gruffly and made his way toward his family.

Akio started to giggle, and then a torrent of laughter rushed up. It wasn't mean, like a certain gray-haired someone. It was the infectious, I don't mean any harm kind of laugh. Kotoko was laughing too, tears in her eyes and banging her fists on the table.

* * *

_Where did they go? _Irie thought desperately. He was running through the rain, much akin to a steed galloping to his destination, a powerhouse of speed and strength.

_Bella's Italian Restaurant. Watanabe mentioned that the food there was really good there once. _He had no way of being sure that that was where they were, but it was the only lead he had. He ran faster, barely dodging traffic and pedestrians.

Mere jealousy wouldn't have him running like this. (Not that he knew what jealousy WAS, but still) No, this was _desperation. _

_I thought that she would always be there, I thought that she would never stop loving me. And for the first time in my entire life, I was wrong. I need to get to her, before I lose her forever! _And on he ran, rain pouring in his hair, his clothes sopping wet, and still, he ran.

* * *

The gray-brown haired teen arrived at the store. He saw Kotoko, through the warmly lit window, laughing hard, and Akio was laughing with her. He felt something in his stomach clench, and he burst in through the door and strode towards the back table.

Inside, meanwhile, Watanabe was telling Kotoko about the English military alphabet.

"Do you know how you spell your name in it?" He asked, and the redhead shook her head.

"Kilo, Oscar, Tango, Oscar, Kilo, Oscar."

"Oh...Kero, Oska, Thango, Oska, Kero, Oska..." she tried to pronounce the foreign words, and actually succeeded to the point where they could be understood generally. "How do you know this stuff?" she asked, interested.

"I'm half American," he replied, pointing to his blond hair. "My dad, he's in the military." He stopped abruptly.

"India, Romeo, India, Echo." he said, putting urgency into his words. "India, Romeo, India, Echo."

She didn't have to turn around. She knew who was behind her.

"Remember when..." she posed the question, seemingly, to Watanabe, but it sounded like a question generally to the restaurant and thus, to Irie.

"Remember when, we watched that Korean Drama? That girl, who loved a 'cold' boy, and never, NEVER stopped loving him even though he was really mean to her? The whole family said, that that was stupid, maybe she should forget about the cold boy for once, and start paying attention to the kind, handsome boys who had a crush on her? I think...I think I am going to follow on that now." She finished, her voice quivering yet strangely firm with emotion.

"What...what does she mean?" Irie asked uncertainly, voice almost breaking. _In intelligence, he may be no.1, but in emotional equivalent, Kin-chan even scores much higher than him. _

Watanabe stood abruptly, gray eyes piercing through his glasses. "She means that...she isn't going to chase you, or have a crush on you, anymore, because it's useless and she gets hurt too many times.

Basically...she's going to stop loving you from now on."


	3. Chapter 3

After hearing those words, steel set firmly into Irie's eyes.

"Oh. the only reason I asked was to make sure you were off my back completely. You ruin my life with your stupidity and clumsiness. If you move out, that would be even better. Good luck with her, Watanabe," (if you listened very carefully you could hear a hint of malice when Irie said the blond's name) "I bet she couldn't even read the menu."

This hitting home because it was true, she _couldn't _read the menu, and Kotoko scrunched up her face like she was going to cry, which made Irie satisfied, and he turned on his heel and walked out of the restaurant.

IAMALINEBREAKWOOPDEEDO

To Watanabe's astonishment, though, Kotoko didn't cry at all but merely looked sadder.

"You're," it was half a statement and half a question. "used to it, aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Normally Kotoko would go on her spiel about how she didn't mind Irie's cruelty but loved him forever and forever 100 percent and intended to marry him someday, but she was too sad and tired to put up that facade, and besides, she felt closer to Akio than almost anyone else, other than Jinko, Satomi, Mama, and her father.

"Let's forget about him!" Akio shouted, much like Kotoko (without realizing it) "Let's order a chocolate cake."

"Chocolate cake?" Kotoko's eyes were round with wonder.

"With chocolate roses!"

Watanabe smiled and waved down a waiter to give him his order.

WAHAHAHALINEBREAKHOORAY

Akio and Kotoko were walking home after the meal, and the redhead was patting her stomach contentedly. "Delicious! Thank you so much!"

"It was no problem," the blond-haired teen replied, "it was my pleasure! Those chocolate roses were really something, weren't they?"

"Yeah!" Aihara's face shone with happiness and her eyes sparkled. "they were so big, and so beautiful-"

The blond suddenly kissed her-on the lips, too-and the moonlight illuminated his gray eyes, making them shine with tenderness, and Kotoko blushed.

"Tomorrow," Akio said softly. "I'll see you."

Unbeknownst to both of them, Irie was watching from the balcony, fists clenched. He heard the door open-that was probably Kotoko, and he angrily went down to meet her.

IAMALINEBREAKANDIDLIKEAMILKSHAKE

"You!" he shouted when he saw the redhead, her face still tinged with blush from the mere thought of the kiss. "YOU!"

"Oh, hello, Irie-kun." Kotoko rolled her eyes in a very un-Kotoko like gesture. "What are you angry about now?"

"You kissed HIM?" he whispered in fury. "Him? HIM?" His voice built up to a normal speaking level. "You aren't ALLOWED to kiss him! The only one you're allowed to kiss is-"

"Oh, _grow up, _Irie-kun. I bet you'll say that, expect me to fall into your arms, and the next day, treat me like trash! I am NOT going to stand for it!" She huffed, and started to walk upstairs.

"Oh, do you think I was going to say me?" Irie's voice, now as cold and smooth as butter, rang up the stairs. "The only one you're allowed to kiss is Kinnosuke, because he and you are matching intellectually-which means that you're both too stupid to end up with anyone else."

The insult bit, and Kotoko did her best to ignore it as she walked into her bedroom and slammed the door.


End file.
